Detecting vibrations in sporting equipment is desired as it can provide a wealth of information regarding the state of play. For instance, in tennis and volleyball, rulings are made based on if the net was touched or not; in cricket and baseball, batsmen can be ruled out if they touched the ball with their bats etc.
Furthermore, as sports coaching becomes more technologically advanced, the ability to locate the impact of a ball on a bat is desirable in order to instruct students how to improve their game.
Televised sports generate substantial revenues for broadcasting companies. These companies employ the services of multiple technology providers in order to provide more detailed information reading the state of play and the players as to increase the appeal and excitement of their broadcast.
Multiple attempts in the prior art have been made to introduce vibration sensors onto sports equipment. To date none of the inventions described in the prior art have been implemented on the sports field. The reasons for this include high cost, impact robustness concerns, operational lifetime, intrusiveness to equipment and performance as well as inability to sense vibrations to the level of detail that enables the reduction of performance parameters.
Therefore a technology would be desirable that is non-intrusive the equipment and player, has a long operational life, is robust to impact, is affordable, can sense vibration levels of concern and is able to communicate relevant information fast and accurately to remote receivers.